Several weeks ago, I promised to give you a glimpse of my son's Advent tree. You might be wondering how on Earth dinosaurs ended up on a Christmas tree.
Before I had a family, I loved toying with the idea of having themed Christmas trees for my future children (I do realize that this was crazy). So, when my first child was born, I was eager to put the concept into motion. As his first Christmas rolled around, he was only 11 months old with no real hobbies, I chose something neutral: seashells and starfish. For the first four years of his life, he loved it!
However, when his sister came along and received wonderful angel ornaments (see blog from December 2010), well, that started him thinking... His tree really didn't reflect any of his interests, seeing as we lived about 400 km from a beach. So, it was a toss up between soccer and dinosaurs. The latter won.
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| A nice mix of opaque and shiny |
I was totally stumped as to how I should fulfill his wish. Then, it dawned on me that Toys"R"us sold barrels of plastic dinosaurs. http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2333512 I purchased two: complete with Carnivores, Herbivores, palm trees and rocks. I drilled holes into each object, sprayed them red, green and gold and then glued ribbons into the holes so that they could be used as ornaments.
In Germany it is customary for children to celebrate every day of Advent by opening a door on special calendars. Hidden behind the doors are either chocolates or pictures. In order to integrate this tradition into my tree, I embroidered numbers on two different fabrics (even numbers on one and odd on the other) and sewed them into little pouches.
He's nearly ten now, and still gets excited about his tree. I hope these feelings don't become „extinct“ any time soon.
Other ways to implement this idea: farm animals, Matchbox cars, planets (thanks, Monica), horses, etc...
Best wishes for a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
Jennifer
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